A border terrier dog trapped four feet underground has been rescued using equipment usually reserved for finding earthquake survivors.

Border terrier Boh was found using state-of-the-art seismic detection equipment after she was trapped underground for four days when he chased a rabbit down a badger’s sett.

When fire crews rescued the 23-month-old dog from the hole in Alvechurch, Worcestershire on Wednesday, she still had the dead rabbit in his mouth.

Trapped underground: Fire crews used seismic detection equipment, usually reserved for finding earthquake survivors, to find and rescue Boh the border terrier who was trapped 4ft underground for four days

Crew Commander Phil Ball said the team identified a series of entrances to the sett before using seismic and acoustic detection equipment to pinpoint the location of Boh underground.

He said: ‘Using an acoustic listening probe, we could hear the sound of heavy breathing which we were pretty sure was an animal in distress, rather than simply a badger inside its sett.

Share this article

‘We then used a “snake eye” camera and we were able to locate the dog in a 10ft long tunnel around four feet below the ground.

‘It would seem that the dog had become trapped in the sett with the rabbit wedged in its mouth.

‘This had made it impossible for the dog to breathe through its mouth and so had been struggling to breathe through its nose, hence the laboured breathing we could hear with our detection equipment.’

Boh, who was hungry and dehydrated, was taken to the vets and given fluids and antibiotics for an eye infection.

Rabbit hunting: Boh was trapped after she chased a rabbit down a 10ft-long badger sett. When she was rescued she still had the dead rabbit in his mouth

She has since been reunited with his relieved owner, dairy farmer Adrian Bytom, 50, in Alvechurch, Worcestershire.

He said today: ‘Boh is an adventurous dog and just chases everything she can.

‘She was out walking on our land and she just disappeared, we were worried sick but she’s a tough little thing.

‘We’re very relieved to have her home and she’s enjoying all the attention she’s getting.’

Wife Alison Bytom 48, feared Boh was dead when the 23-month-old dog didn't come back after going for a walk with her farmer husband Adrian, 50, on Sunday morning.

Mother-of-three Dr Bytom, a GP, who lives on a 100-acre farm, said: 'Boh and our other border terrier Dilly, who is actually Boh's mother, were out in the fields with Adrian on Sunday morning when she just disappeared.

'She doesn't normally do that so we thought that she must have gone down a hole.

'We searched all that day and the next day and just couldn't find her.

'The next day I had to go to work but my sister called the fire and rescue people and the RSPCA because we needed a licence to move badger's setts.

'They searched three setts and when they came to the fourth one they heard groaning from inside.'

Eyes in the dark: Fire crews used a 'snake eye' camera like this one to locate the dog down a 10ft-long badger's sett

'They brought her out and she was a bit wobbly and collapsed. But we took her to the vets and she had fluids and antibiotics and is gradually recovering.'

Their 10-year-old son Olly was so worried about Boh that he stayed with her the night she was rescued in case she stopped breathing.

She added: 'The kids were so distressed and there was so much interest in finding her thanks to Facebook and their Blackberry messaging.

'Olly got his sleeping bag out and slept with Boh on the hard floor all of Wednesday night to make sure she was okay.

'She feels a bit sorry for herself at the moment but she hasn't learnt her lesson.

'We've got a pet rabbit we keep in the garden and she is still incredibly interested in running after it.

'It's like she gets red mist when she sees a rabbit and ignores everything else.'

Before Boh could be rescued, officers from Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service had to get permission from English Heritage to dig up the sett because badgers are protected.

The equipment can pick up noises from trapped victims by converting vibrations created by the victim into audible and visual signals that are then detected by the equipment.

It is used mostly to find victims trapped under collapsed structures and earth caused by earthquakes, explosions, landslides and mine disasters.